49ers news: What to expect from Talanoa Hufanga vs. the Rams in Week 3

The San Francisco 49ers could be getting back a major piece of their defense this week, as safety Talanoa Hufanga practiced in full for the first time on Thursday, taking another step up in getting ready to play in an actual game.

Hufanga, who tore his ACL midway through last season, has been practicing for much of the past month, but has only done so in limited fashion, with the 49ers being cautious with his recovery, hence why he was ruled out for the first two weeks.

But, it appears that the safety is finally ready to make a return, and it’ll likely come when the 49ers face the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3, which precedes a two-game home stretch in the ensuing weeks.

What should the 49ers expect from Hufanga in his return?

“He’s an All-Pro player,” defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen said. “He is someone with a lot of experience. He’s got great energy, he’s a great communicator, he flies around the field, he makes plays. You just [get] a complete player and I think he’s really excited too.”

It’s been a long recovery process for Hufanga, who has had to learn via mental reps for some time in practice, but the safety maintained a strong work ethic, which has prepared him for his return.

“He’s been great. As he started to ramp up and get into practice, I think he’s just been more connected,” Sorensen continued about Hufanga. “You can feel disconnected, but he makes sure that he’s right there. In walk-through, he’ll shadow whoever’s in, so he is getting himself those actual reps and making sure that you hear him on the side, making all the calls that he’d be making as if he was actually in the game. That’s really what you want everyone to do. If you’re not getting the rep, you should get a mental rep. He was fully in it. If you can do that, you basically steal reps when you’re not actually out there.”

“Obviously, you need the physical reps, but when you can mentally make those calls, put yourself in the play at that time, you are getting better and you are putting yourself into those plays and you’re reacting as it’s happening rather than just maybe seeing it on tape. It’s just different when you’re out there and it’s not expected. And he did a good job of that. So he was totally preparing himself to be ready.”

While Hufanga hasn’t been necessarily in there with the top defense throughout the past month, the safety has been on the scout team at times, and is finding ways to get whatever reps he can to stay up to the task.

“It’s like he hasn’t missed a beat,” Sorensen said. “And like I said, he was getting some of those [team] reps too. Anytime if you’re not getting our actual reps for the defense and you’re kind of on that look team, you try and do the same thing. As you’re going through them, what part of this can translate to how we play defense? Well, a lot of it can. There might be some different coverages or something like that, that may be different. But if you translate that to what you’re doing, and that goes for any practice squad player, you should, you’re trying to steal reps and prepare yourself for the chance to play because it is a long season and a lot of guys end up playing.”

All signs are trending up for Hufanga, who should replace George Odum in the starting lineup this weekend, giving the 49ers the tandem of him and Ji’Ayir Brown, which should be a strong playmaking duo on the backend for San Francisco.

For now, it’s yet to be seen how many reps Hufanga will actually handle in the game, but it’s a good sign that he’s trending to finally play here in Week 3.